Los Blancos are through to the round of 16, while CSKA has work to do to finish third

Real Madrid closes out its participation in the Champions League group stage on Wednesday when the club hosts CSKA Moscow in the early slate. Los Blancos are 4-0-1 in Group G with 12 points and have the group wrapped up, while the Russian club is hoping to finish third and enter the Europa League round of 32. Roma has already clinched second place in the group.

Champions League: Real Madrid vs. CSKA Moscow

Storylines

Real Madrid: Since Real has already wrapped up the group, we may see them do as others usually do -- rest their best players. Why risk one of your more important players getting injured? Don't expect to see much of guys like Luka Modric and Gareth Bale, as this would be the perfect time to get some young players some minutes.

CSKA Moscow: This team will try to go all out, playing with a focus on attack, knowing it probably needs a result of some sort to finish over Viktoria Plzen for third place. The team is fairly healthy entering the match, and the confidence will be there after beating Real earlier in the group stage.

Real Madrid vs. CSKA Moscow prediction

The Russians can't get the win on the road, but they settle with a draw that ends up being enough to advance to the Europa League.

Roger Gonzalez is an award-winning writer based in Virginia that has covered pro soccer from Europe's top clubs to Argentina's first division. Roger started out his pro soccer writing career with Goal.com...
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